Microsoft has announcedGears of War 4 has gone gold. This is a major milestone in development, marking the release of the gold master disc to Xbox replication facilities around the world.

This also marks a major milestone for Xbox as the first-ever Gears of War title available in the Xbox Play Anywhere program, available simultaneously for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Additionally, Gears of War 4 also supports Cross Play across Xbox One and Windows 10 PC in all of the game’s modes, including Versus, campaign and the all-new Horde 3.0 survival mode.

The event was celebrated today by Microsoft’s Board of Directors, who traveled to the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre in Vancouver, B.C., to help mark the occasion alongside Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, and Rod Fergusson, head of the Vancouver-based development studio The Coalition, responsible for the development of Gears of War.

“This has been a real homecoming for me,” said Fergusson, who started his career in game development at Xbox before joining Epic Games where he was executive producer on the Gears of War trilogy. “Coming back to Xbox to lead a studio of talented people from around the world, all focused on Gears of War, and doing so in my home country of Canada in one of the best cities in the world for technology and entertainment has been a dream come true.”

“Ten years ago, Gears of War was the killer app that brought millions into the Xbox family,” said Spencer. “It’s combination of innovative technology, unique gameplay, and trademark storytelling changed the game forever.”

“With Gears of War 4, I’m very proud of what the team at The Coalition has achieved. Not only is it the most technically ambitious Gears game yet – with split-screen play on both Xbox and Windows 10, Xbox Play Anywhere support, Cross Play across all co-op modes, and available 4K graphics – it’s a return to the grounded, tense and brutal tone that made so many fall in love with this universe, story and characters for the first time.”